|
Richard Suart was born in Lancashire, and studied at St John’s College, Cambridge, and the Royal Academy of Music. He began his operatic career with the English Music Theatre Company and Opera Factory, and is now much sought after, particularly in music theatre, contemporary opera and, of course,
He has worked for all the major British opera houses, including performances of The Mikado (Ko-Ko), Die Fledermaus (Frank), La Bohème (Benoit and Alcindoro) and
For Music Theatre Wales he created the role of King Arthur in their premiè re of Lynn Plowman and Martin Riley’s ‘adventure’ Gwyneth and the Green Knight, and for
Productions abroad have included Donizetti’s L’Ajo nell‘Imbarazzo in Batignano; Peter Maxwell Davies’ Eight Songs for a Mad King in Gelsenkirchen, Milan, Helsinki, Strasbourg, Stavanger and Paris. He sang Mason’s Chaplinoperas with the Ensemble Modern in Germany, Portugal, Holland and Austria, and gave world première performances of Param Vir’s Snatched by the gods and Broken Strings for De Nederlands Oper in Amsterdam and Munich, and subsequently for Opera Transparant in Antwerp, Rotterdam and Rouen. He has sung Schoenberg’s Ode to Napoleon with the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris, and Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre at the Salzburg Festival and the Châ telet, Paris. For the Reisopera in Holland he has sung in Peter Grimes, Reigen and The Mikado. He has made two visits to New York for performances of The Mikado with City Opera, and has given a G&S gala with the New York Philharmonic under Bramwell Tovey. He has also sung Ko-Ko in Vancouver and Penang. He has enjoyed a long association with Diva Opera for whom he has appeared as Dr. Bartolo, Gianni Schicchi and Dulcamara; he has also directed three operettas for the company, Trial by Jury, Die Fledermaus and Cox and Box, also appearing in the productions, in the UK, the Channel Islands, Switzerland and France.
Recordings include Eight Songs for a Mad King for Finnish TV and Channel 4, Turnage’s Greek for BBCTV and Decca, Bernstein’s Candide and Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; also Purcell’s The Fairy Queen and Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld. Savoy operas include The Gondoliers and Iolanthe with the D’Oyly Carte;
His involvement with the works of Gilbert and Sullivan has lead him to create an entertainment, As a Matter of Patter, which he has performed with his wife at many venues in the UK, South Africa and the Middle East . He has appeared at the BBC Proms three times, as the Duke of Plaza-Toro, The Lord Chancellor and Sir Joseph Porter.
Bristol Gilbert & Sullivan |